Disclaimer

Mad Hatter's Bookshelf & Book Review routinely receives books from Publishers and Authors for review consideration. When in doubt assume the book comes from a Publisher or if you follow my New Procurement posts I usually describe the source of said book. I still buy a lot of books as well.

The past two weeks have seen a steady influx of new books. Many of which I want to be reading all right now. 3 purchases showed up this week, but two were pre-orders from months ago so don't count in my buying hiatus. The first section are books sent from publishers for review.

Diving Mimes, Weeping Czars by Ken Scholes - This should be a great short collection from one of my new favorite writers and I'm eager to delve further into his short work Here is the table of contents, which includes at least one story from the world of Lamentation:

A Weeping Czar Beholds the Fallen Moon
The Night the Stars Sang Out My Name
The God-Voices of Settler's Rest
The Music of the Spheres
Four Clowns of the Apocalypse and the Mecca of Mirth
The Boy Who Could Bend and Fall
The Second Gift Given
Invisible Empire of Ascending Light
There Once Was a Girl from Nantucket (A Fortean Love Story) with John A. Pitts
The Taking Night
On the Settling of Ancient Scores
In Time of Despair and Great Darkness
Of Missing Kings and Backward Dreams and the Honoring of Lies
Grief-Stepping to the Widowers Waltz
Love in the Time of Car Alarms
What Child is this I Ask the Midnight Clear
Grail-Diving in Shangrilla with the World's Last Mime

The Wolf Age by James Enge - This is the arc of the third Morlock book from Enge after This Crooked Way. I still have to read Blood of Ambrose, but after reading the Morlock story in Swords & Dark Magic it has been moved up the to-read pile.

Their plans are laid; the challenges known; the risks accepted. But all schemes will shatter in the clash between two threats few had foreseen and none had fully understood: a monster from the north on a mission to poison the world, and a stranger from the south named Morlock Ambrosius.

The Bird of the River by Kage Baker - Baker will be missed, but she was working up to the end which is why we have a third book placed in the world of The Anvil of the World. From what I know these books standalone well so I work it in sooner than later.

In this new story set in the world of The Anvil of the World and The House of the Stag, two teenagers join the crew of a huge river barge after their addict mother is drowned. The girl and her half-breed younger brother try to make the barge their new home. As the great boat proceeds up the long river, we see a panorama of cities and cultures, and begin to perceive patterns in the pirate attacks that happen so frequently in the river cities. Eliss, the girl, becomes a sharp-eyed spotter of obstacles in the river for the barge, and more than that, one who perceives deeply.

A young boy her age, Krelan, trained as a professional assassin, has come aboard, seeking the head of a dead nobleman, so that there might be a proper burial. But the head proves as elusive as the real explanation behind the looting of cities, so he needs Eliss’s help. And then there is the massive Captain of the barge, who can perform supernatural tricks, but prefers to stay in his cabin and drink.

The Girls with Games of Blood by Alex Bledsoe - This is the second in a vampire series placed in the 70s after last year's Blood Groove. I am a fan of Bledsoe's Eddie LaCrosse books, but I'm kind of full up on vampire reads I'm already involved with. It does sound intriguing though.

Listen to what I tell you, son, every word is true
The sisters haunt the night, and might fight over you
Nothing can steal your soul and stamp it in the mud
Like being the new play-pretty for the girls with the games of blood . . .

The old song warns of the beautiful Bolade sisters, Patience and Prudence, whose undying rivalry was said to stretch even beyond the grave. But Count Rudolfo Vladimir Zginski has never heard the song. A suave Continental vampire, staked to death more than sixty years ago, he has risen to stalk the Southern nights of Memphis, Tennessee, circa 1975. Although new to the modern world, he has quickly developed a taste for its hot blood, willing women, and high-speed automobiles.

Yet the seventies are not without their perils, even for so cunning and ruthless a predator. Zginski’s insistent pursuit of a cherry 1973 Mach 1 Ford Mustang soon brings him into conflict with a legendary redneck sheriff with a short temper and a big baseball bat. His dangerous fascination with an enticing undead chanteuse and her equally seductive sister, threatens not only his own ageless existence, but that of the small group of modern-day vampires he has grudgingly taken under his wing. Zginski has already escaped limbo once, but can he free himself from the tangled web of the girls who play games of blood?

Vampire Earth: The Greyfrair by Clay and Susan Griffith - Another vamp read, but this has been on my want list for sometime given the steampunk angle and also vampires ruling the whole world. This is the arc with the final book coming out in November so I'll definitely be reviewing around than.

In the year 1870, a horrible plague of vampires swept over the northern regions of the world. Millions of humans were killed outright. Millions more died of disease and famine due to the havoc that followed. Within two years, once-great cities were shrouded by the gray empire of the vampire clans. Human refugees fled south to the tropics because vampires could not tolerate the constant heat there. They brought technology and a feverish drive to reestablish their shattered societies of steam and iron amid the mosques of Alexandria, the torrid quietude of Panama, or the green temples of Malaya.

It is now 2020 and a bloody reckoning is coming.

Princess Adele is heir to the Empire of Equatoria, a remnant of the old tropical British Empire. She is quick with her wit as well as with a sword or gun. She is eager for an adventure before she settles into a life of duty and political marriage to a man she does not know. But her quest turns black when she becomes the target of a merciless vampire clan. Her only protector is the Greyfriar, a mysterious hero who fights the vampires from deep within their territory. Their dangerous relationship plays out against an approaching war to the death between humankind and the vampire clans.

Black Lung Captain by Chris Wooding - The follow-up to Retribution Falls, which is one of my favorite reads so far this year. I'll be chewing through this one very, very soon. In fact I can't believe I'm not reading it already. I've had it on pre-order for months and months.

Buckle up for heist action, thievery, shoot-outs and double-crossing galoreDarian Frey is down on his luck. He can barely keep his squabbling crew fed and his rickety aircraft in the sky. So when Captain Grist meets him, with news of a crashed aircraft laden with treasure, Frey is up for a death-or-victory getrich-quick scheme. If Grist is telling the truth then there’s a fortune up for grabs; it’s going to take all of Frey’s considerable skill at lying,cheating and stealing to get his hands on it...

The Reluctant Mage by Karen Miller - The Prodigal Mage was a good continuation of the King Maker, King Breaker world and this volume closes out that storyline. Will be getting to very soon as well. Man, I keep saying very soon, but that pile keeps getting bigger. I really mean it though. I'm going to leave off the description because if you haven't read Prodigal yet it can be spoilery. This is another long standing pre-order.

My Dead Body by Charlie Huston - The last Joe Pitt casebooks, which is one of the vampire series I mentioned I'm already involved with. I've gotten caught up on the series so decided to make this one of my 10 purchases for the remainder of the year for those keeping count.